She fled Israel for 'safety' of LondonWoman one of at least 52 people killed
Boyfriend heard the scream as she died
SANDRO CONTENTAEUROPEAN BUREAU LONDON—When the random hatred of terrorism strikes, there's rarely a lack of tragic irony among the lives it snuffs out.
A particularly poignant dose befell Anat Rosenberg, one of at least 52 people killed in the London rush-hour bomb blasts last week.
Rosenberg, 39, was born in Israel but made London her home for most of the past 18 years.
Art was her great love, and London let her indulge in it fully.
Her great fear — a not uncommon one in the country of her birth — was dying at the hand of a suicide bomber. She balked at visiting her parents in Jerusalem and once she cancelled a trip after a bomb attack in the city, said her boyfriend, retired Financial Times journalist John Falding.
"She developed this phobia about being on a bus in Israel and being bombed or being in a bar and being bombed," Falding, 62, said in an interview yesterday.
"But she felt safe in London and so she was reluctant to go back to Israel for visits to her parents."
Thursday morning, Rosenberg left Falding's apartment on the way to her job at a children's charity. Falding says she was "running a bit late as usual," so their goodbyes were "perfunctory."
He expected to see her soon enough: the next day was his birthday and they would celebrate with dinner at a restaurant. As for Rosenberg, she would turn 40 in two weeks "and was dreading it," he said.
At 9:30 a.m., she called Falding to say that the Euston subway station was closed. He knew by then an incident had shut down the subway but didn't know yet how serious it was.
Minutes later, Rosenberg rang Falding to say she had caught the No. 30 bus. She didn't know at the time that the bus had been diverted from its normal route and wouldn't be heading towards her workplace in north London.
Rosenberg told Falding that he should write an item about the subway incident in the community's newsletter.
"As soon as she finished the word newsletter I heard the most horrendous scream. I said, `What's that?' but by that time the phone had gone dead," Falding said, adding that he didn't hear an explosion.
It was 9:47 a.m. He then heard on TV that a bus had been attacked. He thought it couldn't be the one Rosenberg was on because the route seemed wrong.
"You're always in denial in these situations," he said.
He called her cellphone a second time and again got voice mail.
"I said, `Get off the bus, get off the bus.' But clearly by that time, it was too late."
The bomb blasted the roof off the double-decker bus and sent passengers flying with it. Thirteen people died in that attack in Tavistock Square. Rosenberg's body has yet to be identified.
"It's such an irony that someone who feared a suicide bomb in Israel should become a victim of what I suspect is Britain's first suicide bus bomb," Falding said.
Last night, her parents arrived in London to await the official confirmation of their daughter's death.
Said Falding: "I'd like to feel anger, to feel vengeance, but if anything, I feel pity that there can be people so far removed from the human race that they can do this sort of thing."
`I said, "Get off the bus, get off the bus." But clearly by that time, it was too late.'
John Falding, on the phone to his girlfriend, Anat Rosenberg, who died in last week's bus bombing
While police have raised the number of dead to at least 52, they have officially identified only one victim — Susan Levy, 53, of Hertfordshire, outside London.
London's University College said one of its cleaning service employees, whom it identified as Gladys Wundowa, 51, also was among the dead.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair said police and forensic experts are proceeding cautiously to make sure they don't make mistakes in identifying the victims. A huge makeshift morgue has been set up in central London for the task.
"The effects of a bomb is to make identification sometimes very, very hard and harrowing," he told the House of Commons.
Blair made clear that the death toll would rise dramatically by noting that police liaison officers — who counsel people whose loved ones are dead, missing or severely injured — have been assigned to 74 families.
Bodies are still trapped in the smouldering train wreckage of a tight tunnel near the King's Cross station, where emergency crews are working in horrendous conditions in temperatures of 60C. Rats, dust, and the risk of contamination from asbestos have also hampered the recovery operation.
Police call centres were struggling to deal with more than 115,000 calls from worried relatives since Thursday. Among the missing, reports listed individuals from most of the continents and first-generation Britons with parents from a dozen countries.
Londoners got back to work yesterday, but subway use was down compared to normal weekdays. British retailers estimate they have already lost $55 million worth of sales since Thursday's attacks.
The prime minister said he would toughen anti-terrorism legislation if police say they need more powers to protect Britons.
"We will pursue those responsible — not just the perpetrators but the planners of this outrage — wherever they are. And we will not rest until they are identified and as far as humanly possible, brought to justice," Blair vowed.
"It seems probable that the attack was carried out by Islamist extremist terrorists of the kind who over recent years have been responsible for so many innocent deaths," he added.
It's still unclear whether the bombers were homegrown or whether they entered the country to carry out the operation. Police fear the cell may be planning more attacks.
The bombs on three subways — likely left in bags on the floor — exploded almost simultaneously at 8:50 a.m. The investigation focuses on the King's Cross station. All three of the bombed subways passed through the station Thursday morning.
At Tavistock Square, where the bus exploded at 9:47 a.m., Londoners and relatives of missing loved ones placed flowers on the steps of a nearby church throughout the day.
Marie Fatayi-Williams flew from Nigeria to stand near the square and make a heartbreaking plea for news of her son Anthony's fate.
"I need to know what has happened to my Anthony," she cried, holding his picture. "He is the love of my life; my first son."
Anthony, a 26-year-old business graduate working for a major oil firm, was last heard of when he called his office to say he was catching a bus to work because an incident had shut down the Underground.
"He said to me one day, `Mommy, I don't want to die, I want to live. I want to take care of you, I will do great things for you, I will look after you — you'll see what I will achieve for you, I will make you happy,'" Fatayi-Williams said.
"He was making me happy. I'm proud of him, but I need to know where he is," she shouted, her voice breaking.
Then she had a message for the bombers.
"If anyone believes that by killing innocent people that he or she is serving God, then he must think again because it is not true."
"How much blood must be spilled? How many tears must we cry? How many mothers' hearts must be maimed? My heart is maimed by the bombers. I pray that I see my son Anthony."
In her loss and despair, the sadness of a city seemed to echo.
Additional articles by Sandro Contenta

The situation being as sensitive as it is, I'm not about to begin exploiting the wounds of those affected by this incident. But I cannot help but wonder how it is that people can be so horrified at the inhumane treatment of human life, yet brush off the news of the thousands of dead civilians in the most recent Afghan and Iraq wars.

This event is receiving coverage and perspective that doesn't cut through East-West, Global North- Global South, First world- Third world constructions of value and meaning. It is much easier to believe from where we are that the lives of the first world are more significant and meaningful than those of the third world.